Siting landfills and incinerators in areas of historic unpopularity: Surveying the views of the next generation
Siting landfills and incinerators in areas of historic unpopularity: Surveying the views of the next generation
The Campania Region in Southern Italy has suffered many problems with municipal solid waste management since the mid-1990s, leading to significant public disturbances and subsequent media coverage. This paper reports on the current views and knowledge of young people (university students) in this region about waste management operations and facilities, specifically the siting of landfills and incinerators. By means of a structured questionnaire, opinion and knowledge were systematically examined by degree type and course year. The study took place in 2011 at the University of Salerno campus. A sample of 900 students, comprising 100 students for each of the nine considered faculties, and 20 students for every academic course year, was randomly selected. Only about a quarter of respondents were not opposed to the siting of a landfill or an incinerator in their city. This clearly highlights that historic opposition to the construction of waste facilities is difficult to overcome and that distrust for previous poor management or indiscretions is long-lived and transcends generations. Students from technical faculties expressed the most reasonable opinion; opinion and knowledge were statistically related (Chi-square test, p < 0.05) to the attended faculty, and the knowledge grew linearly with progression through the university. This suggests that awareness of waste management practices develops with experience and understanding of environmental issues. There is general acceptance that many stakeholders - technicians, politicians and citizens – all have to be part of the decision process when siting a new waste management facility. The opinions of the young respondents were significantly influenced by their level of environmental knowledge.
2798-2810
De Feo, Giovanni
0ed73623-c317-417f-b00e-04a29eafb8f9
Williams, I.D.
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
December 2013
De Feo, Giovanni
0ed73623-c317-417f-b00e-04a29eafb8f9
Williams, I.D.
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
De Feo, Giovanni and Williams, I.D.
(2013)
Siting landfills and incinerators in areas of historic unpopularity: Surveying the views of the next generation.
Waste Management, 33 (12), .
(doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2013.08.019).
Abstract
The Campania Region in Southern Italy has suffered many problems with municipal solid waste management since the mid-1990s, leading to significant public disturbances and subsequent media coverage. This paper reports on the current views and knowledge of young people (university students) in this region about waste management operations and facilities, specifically the siting of landfills and incinerators. By means of a structured questionnaire, opinion and knowledge were systematically examined by degree type and course year. The study took place in 2011 at the University of Salerno campus. A sample of 900 students, comprising 100 students for each of the nine considered faculties, and 20 students for every academic course year, was randomly selected. Only about a quarter of respondents were not opposed to the siting of a landfill or an incinerator in their city. This clearly highlights that historic opposition to the construction of waste facilities is difficult to overcome and that distrust for previous poor management or indiscretions is long-lived and transcends generations. Students from technical faculties expressed the most reasonable opinion; opinion and knowledge were statistically related (Chi-square test, p < 0.05) to the attended faculty, and the knowledge grew linearly with progression through the university. This suggests that awareness of waste management practices develops with experience and understanding of environmental issues. There is general acceptance that many stakeholders - technicians, politicians and citizens – all have to be part of the decision process when siting a new waste management facility. The opinions of the young respondents were significantly influenced by their level of environmental knowledge.
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Published date: December 2013
Organisations:
Centre for Environmental Science
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Local EPrints ID: 360909
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/360909
ISSN: 0956-053X
PURE UUID: b4071378-96aa-4812-a155-1a132f83ee7a
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Date deposited: 08 Jan 2014 12:50
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:22
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Giovanni De Feo
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